Walmart Reshapes Black Friday Into Trio of Omnichannel Events
Black Friday is taking on a new look at Walmart, beginning the first week of November in a “Black Friday Deals for Days” omnichannel event, it said Wednesday, the second day of Amazon’s Prime Day two-day sales fest. Walmart promised “increased availability of event items" and a monitored in-store experience.
The “revamped Black Friday savings event” will deliver prices customers expect in “an entirely new way to help provide a safer and more convenient shopping experience,” Walmart said, with the health and safety of customers and employees its “top priority.” Employees will "meter customers into the store to help reduce congestion and promote social distancing inside stores." Consumers will be directed to "shop down the right-hand side of aisles to be able to easily -- and safely -- select the Black Friday items they’re interested in purchasing."
On in-store Black Friday event days, “customers will form a single, straight line to enter the store,” the retailer said. That's in stark contrast to Black Fridays of years past, when customers crowded entrances to secure doorbuster items before they sold out. Associates will hand out “sanitized shopping carts to customers to help with social distancing, and Health Ambassadors will be placed at entrances to greet customers and remind them to put on a mask.”
Walmart is offering the option of curbside pickup for the first time, to provide customers “more convenient and safer ways to shop Black Friday at Walmart, whether that’s from the shelf in one of our stores, ordering online and picking it up curbside or having it delivered right to their front door,” said Scott McCall, Walmart U.S. chief merchandising officer.
The first of Walmart's Black Friday deals start online only at Walmart.com Wednesday Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. EST, headlined by a 42-inch 4K Roku TV and $5 Hotel Style bath towels, it said. A new round of deals will go live Saturday Nov. 7 at 12 a.m., followed by the first in-store Black Friday sales event, which begins 5 a.m. local time that day. Deals on “many items” will be found only at Walmart, it said.
The second sales event begins online at Walmart.com Nov. 11 at 7 p.m. EST, with new deals following at Walmart.com Nov. 14 at 12 a.m. and in stores starting at 5 a.m. local time. The second round is geared to tech shoppers with specials on electronics, including TVs, computers and tablets. Walmart will also hold its biggest wireless phone event ever in-stores and online on Nov. 14 with deals on iPhones and Samsung Galaxy phones, it said.
Part three of the Black Friday marathon begins Thanksgiving week, with online deals starting at 7 p.m. EST Nov. 25; additional items will get price cuts at 12 a.m. EST. On the traditional Black Friday, deals start in store when doors open at 5 a.m. local time, Walmart said. Featured categories are electronics, toys, gifts, apparel and seasonal decor.